Remember your freezer space is part of your food storage! It
can be used to “save the day” when the schedule gets tight. It allows you to
buy in quantity when the price is right on items like beef, poultry, veggies and
fruits. Even your "daily bread" can be kept in the freezer to allow
school lunches for weeks at a time. Many
great casseroles can be made several at one time and frozen for later use.
A friend of mine taught me that the freezer is
great for easy make-ahead meals. Meal portions can be frozen in ziplock bags
allowing for quick and simple fixing. It also allows everyone in the family to
help out following the easy instructions. If you haven’t tried freezer meals,
now is a great time to spend a day or an afternoon putting some together.
You'll be so grateful to have some pre-made casseroles or quick to fix homemade
meals you can pull out in a pinch. I love to turn a rainy day into a freezer-
meal- making day.
As you find produce or groceries on sale, think about the
space you have to put some away for later.
For instance:
- When chicken is on sale, buy a little extra and
prep it before putting it straight in the freezer. Cut up portions and place in
a ziplock bag with the ingredients for
your favorite recipe. When you pull it from the freezer, the chicken can go in
the crock pot or be cooked on the stove with little to no effort.
- Fry up a
large amount of hamburger or ground turkey and portion it into ziplock bags to
add to meals another time, cutting down prep time the night you serve it. You
can even spice some of the meat for recipes like tacos.
- Place meat into the marinade before you freeze it and as it thaws,
the juices will combine. Then cook it in
the crockpot or on the grill - from freezer to done with very little work.
- As you rotate storage
and find canned goods close to their best used dates, spend an afternoon
putting together sauces or casseroles that can be placed in the freezer.
Most
everything can freeze so try some of the family favorites. As one of my cook
book proclaims…”Dinner’s in the Freezer!” What a great relief that can be for
you or a neighbor in need.
Here are some recipes and ideas. Talk to your friends about
what they put in the freezer for more helpful ideas.
Breakfast: Make pancakes, muffins, waffles, French
toast, or breakfast burritos ahead of time and freeze for morning time ease.
Most recipes will freeze nicely.
Cookies! Freeze
the dough in rolls to slice and bake later or make the cookies and freeze ready
to eat! My kids love to make a BIG batch to put some away for later. We even
bag the cookies in snack baggies to be quick to grab for cold lunches.
Fruit for smoothies
- Always rewarding - especially when the produce came at a decent price or was
picked by your own hands.
Meals: Any recipe
your family likes can probably freeze. So when you make one lasagna double the
batch and you've got one for another day. Soups can easily be doubled and
leftovers frozen. This works with most
casseroles as well. With minimal planning, extra dinner can be made and
frozen for later use.
Here are some favorites!
Sweet n’ Sour
Meatballs
2 lbs ground
beef
Salt and
pepper to taste
Onion salt
and garlic powder to taste
1 Egg
Oatmeal or
cooked quinoa (optional)
Mix and form
into 1” balls. Place on cooking tray. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Drain, allow
to cool and place in Ziplock bags. (Make a large batch while your hands are dirty. Pre-cooked meatballs can be used in many recipes.)
Sauce:
2
cans pineapple chunks, drained and reserve juice
2
Tbsp cornstarch
4
Tbsp vinegar
2
Tbsp brown sugar
1
tsp soy sauce
Green
and red peppers
Carrot
slices
Heat
up juice and cornstarch. Add vinegar, brown sugar and soy sauce and bring to a
boil while stirring. Mixture should be thick. Allow to cook and place in ziplock bag with pineapple chunks, green and red pepper and carrot slices.
Label and freeze.
To
prepare, thaw, pour sauce over meatballs and heat through in the microwave, on
the stove, or in the crockpot. Serve over rice that can also be cooked in
batches, portioned out and frozen for
quick heat up.
Stuffed Rolls
This one is a basic hot pockets recipe and any filling can
be used. This is one of those recipes that makes plenty so you know there will
be some for the freezer. We like these filling options:
1 - Hamburger browned and
drained, mushrooms, onions, cabbage all diced and sauteed. Mix together with
basil, oregano, salt and pepper.
2 - Diced ham, cheddar cheese
and spaghetti sauce. Sometimes we use the leftover spaghetti dinner for the
filling. Yum!
3 - Chicken, broccoli, rice,
grated cheese, cream of chicken soup and sour cream mixture.
Make your favorite bread dough recipe or used frozen dough
that has thawed. Roll out dough into a thin rectangle. Use pizza cutter to cut
dough into squares or rectangles. Place desired filling into center of dough.
Fold over corners to wrap up and squeeze the edges together. Place seam down on
greased cookie tray and bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes until dough is golden
brown. Rub top of rolls with butter when they come out. Cool completely before
putting in ziplock bag and freezing. Heat up and enjoy!
Cheesy Chicken
Tortilla Soup
Bag 1 ,
combine:
2 cups cooked, diced chicken
3 cups
tortilla chips, crushed
2 cups
frozen corn Kernels
Bag 2,
Combine:
8 oz
pasteurized process cheese (Velveeta) cut into 1 inch cubes
1 can diced
tomatoes with green chilies
2 Tbsp Taco
seasoning
Seal Bag 2
and place into Bag 1; seal. Freeze.
Add contents
of Bag 2 and 2 cans chicken broth to 4
qt pan. Bring to simmer over medium heat; cook 12-14 minutes or until cheese is
melted, stirring occasionally.
Add contents
of Bag 1 to pan; simmer 4-6 minutes. Soup should thicken.
Serve soup
with toppings such as shredded cheese,
diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro.
Dijon Chicken Noodle
Toss
In bag 1,
combine:
2 cups
cooked, diced chicken
2 cups
frozen peas
In bag 2,
combine;
¼ lb. deli
ham, diced
1 can cream
of chicken soup
2 tsp Dijon
Mustard
Seal bag 2,
place in bag 1; seal. Freeze.
Cook 12 oz
rotini pasta as directed and drain.
Meanwhile, place 1\2 cup water and contents of Bag 2 in
skillet; cover. Bring to simmer, stirring occasionally.
Add 8 oz sour cream to skillet. Add contents of Bag 1 to
skillet. Cover and cook 4-6 minutes.
Toss over cooked pasta . Serve with a sprinkle of parsley
and Parmesan, if desired.
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